Sandy Budget Committee Hearing: Need Tough Choices on Rebuilding

Sandy Budget Committee Hearing: Need Tough Choices on Rebuilding
Today the Senate Budget Committee is holding a hearing on the impacts of
Hurricane Sandy.Jeff Tittel, Director NJ Sierra Club, issued the
following statement on the hearing:

"It is important for mayors and public officials to let us know what the
major impacts of the storm were and it is good to start taking a look at
what happened during Hurricane Sandy.We need to look at what worked and
what didn't work, but more importantly we need to learn where things
must be improved.We also need to look at what happened and hold those
agencies accountable were there was failure; whether it is the Passaic
Valley Sewerage Authority which is still spewing out partially treated
sewage 3 weeks after the storm, NJ Transit that stormed equipment in the
wrong places causing close to $1 billion in losses, or oil spills in the
Arthur Kill and contaminated sites getting washed out.More importantly
we need to look at the failure of government to properly plan for
infrastructure and place them in flood prone area and coastal
areas.There are loopholes in current laws such as CAFRA and the state
not requiring dunes to be maintained, the state not adopting new FEMA
maps and not adequately map for storm surges, all of which need to be
addressed.Now we need to look at what changes we have to make as we move
forward with rebuilding."

"Even more important is looking at how we rebuild the coast in flood
prone areas in a way that is going to protect people and property in the
future.What steps need to be taken and what are the tough choices that
need to be made, or is this all just political posturing without any
real change.The state of New Jersey cannot afford grandstanding, too
many people are hurting.We need to get to the bottom of why things were
so bad and then come up with long term solutions to fix the problems."

"Rollbacks to environmental protections make flooding worse.Governor
Christie weakened land use tools within the DEP that prevent sprawl in
flood prone and wetland areas.His administration has rolled back the
stormwater and flood hazard rules, removing key protections like zero
net fill and stream buffers, increasing erosion and sedimentation in our
waterways.The DEP has proposed a waiver rule that is so vague that
virtually any development project can skirt the rules of critical
environmental programs.We need the Legislature to stop these rollbacks
to protect our families from the impacts of these storms."

"Today was the first hearing but will they listen?Will they spend the
time to do fact finding and get to the bottom of what happened and then
come up with changes in policies and laws to not only help New Jersey
rebuild but to protect us better from future storms?Will we do it better
and smarter or will we end up with business as usual?Nature may bring
the rain but government policies make the consequences worse.It is
unfortunate that the rollback of environmental protections and the
failure to close legislative loopholes may have made the impact to the
coast worse."

"As we recover from this disaster we need to rebuild but we have to make
sure it is the right projects in the right places."